


Ground Rules

by White Aster (white_aster)



Series: Field Maneuvers (FF7/FMA crossover) [5]
Category: Final Fantasy VII, Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Military
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-10
Updated: 2010-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-06 03:16:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/white_aster/pseuds/White%20Aster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greed lays out for Kimberly some ground rules about how things run in his pack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ground Rules

Sometimes things go just as planned, smooth as can be. Every map accurate, every bit of intel correct, every incendiary going off right when it was supposed to, every target perfectly in sight, every escape route clear straight through to the LZ.

Yeah, sometimes thing go slicker'n shit through a chocobo with the runs.

Lots of times, though, they don't.

\-------------

"Where's Kimberly?" Greed had to shout over the whump! of a building collapsing somewhere nearby.

Martel's eyes were wide in the dim streetlight. "He's not already here? I went to set a few more charges. He said he was coming...."

"Goddammit." Greed motioned to Law and Elric, already halfway down the street and looking back, to go ahead before turning and heading back down towards Kimberly's roost. "Go on, Martel."

"Fuck that." She kept pace with him, and Greed didn't have time to argue or make it an order she'd listen to.

They found Kimberly still in the attic of the abandoned building he'd chosen as his perch for hitting the supply depot. He was a dark outline against the fireglow of the sky outside the window. Greed left Martel to watch the stairs and called an identifier so the rookie didn't shoot himm as he headed for the attic. He cleared the attic floor, and Kimberly was right beside him, taking a shot out the window and cursing softly.

"Kimberly, leaving. Now."

Kimberly's eyes, easy to see in the dark, were only for the target in the scope, leaning into his rifle like a lover. "The leader's breaking cover...I can get him. Give me one more shot."

"Now, Kimberly. Our window's closing."

Kimberly's jaw was clenched, his voice was distracted. "Just...one more...."

Greed caught the flicker of movement out the window, the search light crawling toward them

"Goddammit, NOW, soldier!" He lunged for Kimberly, catching his arm a second after the kid took the shot. He yanked Kimberly down into the opening of the stairwell with enough force to dislocate the boy's shoulder if he'd been anything but a SOLDIER. As it was, Kimberly hissed in pain, cursing at him, but a low whistle interrupted him, followed by the deafening blast of a rocket hitting the top of the house, shaking the whole structure. Greed used his hold to half throw Kimberly down the stairs and piled after him. Martel met them on the first floor, already laying fire at a few dark figures creeping closer outside. They fled out the back door, and as they pounded toward the rendezvous, Greed tried not to think about how little of their evac window they must have left.

When they skidded around the corner to the landing zone, though, the copter was still there, blades already up to speed and Dorochet in the door, beckoning to them frantically. Greed and the others put on a burst of speed, and Dorochet fired half a dozen shots behind them at what Greed assumed were pursuers as they piled in and the copter took off and banked sharply, heading for safety.

Greed buckled himself in, counting heads by reflex and coming up one short. A cold hand clenched his chest as he leaned over to Elric and shouted, "Where's Law?"

Elric grinned in the mostly-dark, eyes glowing golden. "Up front. Pilot wanted to leave five minutes ago. Law changed his mind."

_I bet he did._ Greed laughed as they streaked toward Midgar.

The high wore off by the time they landed, though, and by the time they'd gotten back, been debriefed, and everyone'd gotten a once-over for injuries by the medics, anger was starting to simmer. By the time they got back to their barracks, Greed was three steps away from livid, and Dorochet and the others who knew better were giving him a wide berth.

That's why everyone else was elsewhere when he followed Kimberly into the barracks, hauled him up, and slammed him back into the wall.

Kimberly, to his credit, had gotten a lot better at close-quarters hand-to-hand than he'd been when he and Elric showed up, and he was just as battle-strung from the operation as Greed was. So, his attempt to dodge was fine, though surprised and too late, and his thumbs grinding into a few choice nerve centers in Greed's hand and forearm would have probably made Greed let go of his fistful of shirt had Greed given him enough time to work at it. As it was, he slammed Kimberly against the wall again until the rookie's hands dropped and he was sure Kimberly was seeing stars.

"...the fuck...?" Kimberly wheezed, blinking.

"You know damn well," Greed growled. "You ignored a direct order, Lieutenant, not once, but TWICE. THREE times if you count ignoring the time and staying in that fucking attic when you should have been humping it to the LZ."

Greed could see Kimberly getting angry, too, his fists balling at his sides. Apparently he realized, though, that any fight they got into was going to do more damage than the mission they'd just been on. "I was completing my part of the mission. I just needed five extra minutes--"

Greed jiggled him by his collar a bit. "Try FIFTEEN. Twenty by the time we made it to that roost. We were dragging your ass out of there when we should have been flying away. And you owe Law and Dorochet and Elric a fucking case of Midgar's best for making sure that the pilot didn't take off without our sorry asses."

Kimberly sneered, "They weren't doing it for ME, and you fucking well know it. What, you want to hear that I fucked up? Fine, I fucked up. But no one MADE you two come after me--"

Greed slammed him against the wall again, with a frustrated growl, fist slamming into the wood beside Kimberly's head. Goddammit, the kid annoyed the shit out of him. "Let me explain something to you, asshole. Again. And I'll use short words so maybe it'll get through your thick fucking skull this time. We. Do not. Leave. ANYONE. Behind. You fuck up and end up pinned in a hot zone, we will fucking come AFTER you, and that is a goddamned promise. And not only that, when we extract your sorry ass, we will feel free to beat the shit out of you later to make up for it. So next time you decide to fuck about with the timetable, you fucking remember that you'll drag in every one of us with you."

Greed could see the incomprehension in the kid's face. Fuck, ShinRa'd done a good job of beating any sense of loyalty and trust out of the little shit. If he'd ever had any at all. "That's...that's not regulation--"

"Fuck regulation. This is my team. This's my way. And in case you haven't been keeping up with current events, what I say goes. You got a problem with this, you tell me now, because this runs both ways. We watch your back, you watch ours. If Elric gets hurt and slows you down, you fucking stick together. Law's about to get cut off, you fucking stick together. Martel's got a gun she doesn't see pointed at her, you. Fucking. Stick. Together."

"You can fucking stop shaking me, I get the point already," Kimberly grumbled.

Greed thumped him against the wall once again for good measure before letting go. Kimberly dropped the foot or so he'd been dangling off the ground, still staring at Greed like he was some kind of strange new bomb he wasn't sure wouldn't go off in his face. Greed crossed his arms across his chest. "You stay here, you're not only looking out for you anymore. No more grandstanding. No more stupid heroics. And so help me, you EVER disobey my orders on a mission again and I'll put you through the closest fucking wall. You either work with the team, or I call Command to have you shipped out somewhere else. Is that clear?"

Kimberly rolled his shoulders to resettle his shirt. "Yes. Sir."

"You want out, Lieutenant?"

Greed watched him think about it. Think about it hard. Finally, he said, "No, sir." His voice was a little surprised at himself.

"Good. I don't want to have to start crawling up Command's ass every week about needing a sniper again." Greed smirked and stepped back, and Kimberly relaxed just that little bit more, his lips twisting into a shadow of his usual smirk in answer.

Greed turned and headed for the showers, shucking out of his vest.. "S'still early. Poker in an hour."

Law was in the shower already when Greed walked in. He finished shedding his clothes and stepped up to the next showerhead, wrenching it on with probably more force than necessary.

Law glanced a question over at him, and Greed sighed, "Goddamn kids."

Law chuckled and turned off the water, picking his towel up off the divider.

Greed leaned against the wall, water pounding down his back, starting to feel the adrenaline of the mission finally sluice away. "Hey, Law."

"Mm?"

"Thanks."

Law stopped in the middle of drying off, gave him an incredulous look, rolled his eyes, snorted, and headed back to the barracks.

Greed grinned and reached for the soap.

Kimberly didn't get it. Greed had seen it in his eyes. But that was ok. Greed had a feeling that he'd learn. Slowly, because he was a wary bastard. But he'd learn. Same way Greed had.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Not My Thing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/225051) by [Laylah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laylah/pseuds/Laylah)




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